When completed, the Ayalon Highway will provide a continuous freeway through the entire Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
The southern section of the Ayalon Highway (Road No. 20) between the Dov Hoz and Yoseftal interchanges will be opened for through-traffic by the end of the month. All the traffic lights on this stretch will have been replaced with interchanges, converting the road into a freeway. Construction work southern section of the Ayalon Highway began in 2000. The cost of building the four intersections on this stretch is NIS 500 million. The Rishon LeZion and Wolfson interchanges were completed first.
Ayalon Highways Co. general manager Arie Bar said the freeway would be open ahead of schedule. The freeway will save the economy tens of millions of shekels a year.
Construction of the interchanges is part of the Ayalon Highways Co. project for the southern section of the Ayalon Highway between the Holtz interchange, which intersects with the Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway (Road No. 1), and the Holot interchange, which connects the Ayalon Highway with Road No. 4 to the south. The project includes infrastructure work for Israel Railways, as part of the planned rail link to Rishon LeZion.
Bar added that the opening of the Ayalon Highway as a freeway would provide residents of Rishon LeZion, Holon and Bat Yam direct access to the heart of metropolitan Tel Aviv. The transportation project is part of a comprehensive project for dealing with traffic congestion and reducing travel time. When completed, including the opening of the northern section of the freeway, the Ayalon Highway will provide a continuous freeway through the entire Tel Aviv metropolitan area.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on December 2, 2004